https://irishheart.ie/what-is-cpr/

Nobody thinks the worst will happen to them but unfortunately it absolutely can. My dad had a massive heart attack and is now still in ICU a few week later. It took the ambulance over 15 minutes to get to him. If it wasn't for a family member and neighbour who also knew CPR then my dad would not be here now. Please take a few minutes to watch some videos on CPR. The Irish Heart Foundation is a great resource. Perhaps your work could organize a day of teaching with them.

by OmegaStealthJam

27 comments

  1. Wishing your dad a good recovery. Knowing CPR is essential

  2. It pays to know where your local defibrillator is too, defib training helps but even a moron can successfully operate one, I’m proof of that. They’re foolproof.

  4. Glad your neighbours could help but cpr is for cardiac arrest where the hearts electrical impulses stop and the heart stops beating.

    A heart attack occurs when there is a blockage in the blood flow to the heart.

    Even with bystander assistance for cardiac arrest your chances are very ( even in hospital cardiac arrest survival rates are poor. )

  5. I always found it a bit mad that this sort of thing wasn’t like mandatory in secondary school or something.

  6. Good post OP and well said. It should be taught everywhere. I’m proudly CPR trained and carry my pocket mask around in the car. I really hope I never have to use those skills but I’m glad I have them. All the best to your dad, I hope you and your family are okay. Take care x

    Edit: Also here’s a [map to all the defibrillators](https://www.openstreetmap.ie/missions/aed-defibrillator-mapping/) in the country. So worth knowing where your local defibrillator is and worth fundraising to get one in your local community, we did so in my area a few years ago in a small Dublin suburb. Thankfully it has never had to be used.

  7. IHR has instructors all over the country. You can also join one of the voluntary organisations if you want to learn more. I’m a member of St. John Ambulance Ireland and I can’t recommend it enough. Wishing you and your Dad the best.

  8. I don’t know CPR. I’ll definitely check out a video after this.

  11. Hope your Dad is doing well, recovery can be slow but the fact he’s come this far is huge.

    I’m a former paramedic and bystander CPR is they only fighting chance someone can have in an out of hospital cardiac arrest. I’ve been fortunate to meet a guy who we attended to in cardiac arrest in a shopping centre. We might’ve done all the sexy drugs and intubation when we rocked up but bystander CPR from security and cleaners is what really saved his life.

    People tend to panic about the compressions to respirations ratio, my advice to anyone who has never taken a course is to push fast and hard – you have to go harder and deeper than you think you do, especially if the person is younger or fitter. If you don’t feel comfortable about the respirations (no barrier mask or not a close family member) then just focus on good quality chest compressions.

    If you’ve got kids/grandkids around the house than a paediatric first aid course is a must as there’s different approaches depending on their age.

  12. I had to give CPR once. Unfortunately the outcome wasn’t successful. I am so glad I could help when the situation arrose.

    It’s not for everyone and is not a magic bullet by any means. It’s better to be able to help rather than wishing you knew what to do.

  13. Wishing your dad a speedy recovery hope he gets better soon

  14. My employer every year offers first aid/cpr/AED training. We are finding it next to impossible to get some of the 20 somethings on the staff to sign up for it despite it going on during work time and if it by chance falls on their days off they get overtime. I’ve been my shifts only first aider for the past 10 years and I’ve had to use the training directly on patients on 3 occasions. The one that I have flashbacks about constantly is the time I performed Cpr at the side of the road at 4am on my way into work. That person was alive when they got into the ambulance and I think I would probably find it hard to live with myself if I didn’t know what to do or did nothing. The training should be on the educational ciriculum IMO.

  15. If you don’t have a community first responder (CFR) group in your area, you can set one up. This is a volunteer group working with the national ambulance service.
    They have a website becomeacfr.ie that guides you through the process. Other groups that are set up will also help you train and set up.
    Best wishes to your father OP and well done those who were around to help him

  16. First aid and CPR and using a defibrillator should be a mandatory lesson in school

  17. I’m delighted to hear that he made it out. I went into cardiac arrest and dropped dead in 2023 (2 weeks after my wedding lol) and my wife was able to keep me alive for the 30 minutes or so it took the ambulance to arrive. She took instruction from the dispatcher and stayed calm. I’m still finding out little details about what happened.

    But yeah – learn CPR, hopefully you’ll never have to use it.

  18. In Ireland isn’t it a mandatory thing to learn when you do the driver’s license? Or isn’t it a basic thing schools they in upper classes close to graduation?

  19. Absolute hero stuff. Wishing you Dad a full recovery, and that this will be an anecdote in a few years.

  20. This is a critical skill that everyone should be taught in school. It might be a bit of a joke but I’m not lying when a show like Baywatch has saved lives simply because it deals with these situations and can inform people enough to try doing some basic CPR until the professionals arrive.

    Long road to recovery but wishing OP and your Dad the best.

  21. Also to note, CPR guidelines change every 2-3 years so keep your training up to date! It’s currently 30 chest compressions and 2 breaths. If you don’t know the person and do not have some sort of barrier device like a face shield, you can do compression only CPR that is still very effective 

  22. I had to go get our local defibrillator and found it was locked, and the key was in a lockbox beside it with a combo lock on it. No idea what the code was… Finally tracked down a local who knew the code. Then fumbling with the lock box, and finally got the unit. No idea how long it took, but felt like an eternity. Ended up not needing to use it, but if I had, I suspect those second and minutes wasted would really have mattered. It’s Stupid locking these things up

  23. A person’s chance of survival decreases by 10% for every minute that CPR and defibrillation are not being performed when they go into cardiac arrest.

    My Dad died of a heart attack while he was outside. No one who was there knew what to do or where the local defibrillator was. It might not have saved him if they did, but it might have given him a chance. It’s so important for people to learn this.

    I hope your Dad recovers well ❤️.

  24. Learned it in school, probably need a refresher. Some of my friends are designated medical people in the places they work so have had refreshers that way.

    I think some tv shows and movies don’t show what it’s really like to do CPR. You’re going like 2-3 inches deep in their chest, you’re breaking ribs potentially.

    There’s also the issue of fight, flight or freeze. A lot of people will have the freeze response to a sudden stress situation. I know when a family member passed out infront of me and my family, my mum lost her mind screaming, my dad couldn’t process fast enough what happened but I was able to get to the person and raise their legs and protect their head as they came back conscious. Asked all the questions and assessed their responses while my mum still fluttered around panicking. It’s just the way you’re wired.

    So yeah go get First aid training.

  25. We do training on this every two years in work. The amount of TV shows that show incorrect CPR is unreal, even the ones that are supposed to be hospital based shows. 

    Such an important skill to know  as you never know when it might happen that you’ll need to use it 

  26. You are very lucky it only took 15mins.
    Same thing happened to a family member a couple of months ago, they went into cardiac arrest while I was in the house, I rang the ambulance as they started getting pains in their chest, no sign of the ambulance, panic starting to set in until 2 community responders arrived, they went into full cardiac arrest and needed to be brought back twice until the fire department showed up and took control, the ambulance took over 50mins to arrive!!!!
    They had to be brought back 6 times in total that day, their chest plate was broken due to CPR, thankfully making a full recovery now.

    It is great knowing CPR and what to do, but the reality of someone (especially a loved one) going into a cardiac arrest is very different, although I have done countless CPR and emergency response courses, nothing could have prepared me for the complete panic and hopelessness I felt over that hour or so.

  27. I’m in NZ, and last Thursday my boss went in to cardiac arrest beside me. I’ve ever done CPR, but we both had done a first aid course last year. I didn’t think I did it right but I seemed to have brought him back by the time the ambulance arrived.
    He’s just out of ICU and had seen his wife and kids. It was terrifying, but it worked.
    Please learn CPR.

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